


Nanny and the Gardener

by Smurphyse



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Good Omens AU, Hurt/Comfort, I'll update tags as I go, Multi, good omens - Freeform, you know me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-26 07:31:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20926454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smurphyse/pseuds/Smurphyse
Summary: Lilith Ashtoreth has been the Dowling’s Nanny for over five years. She’s seen staff come and go; none have caught her eye. When she’s introduced to the new gardener, a soft burly man named Ezra Francis Fell, she is quite intrigued by him.A man of God, Brother Francis tries to tear his eyes away from the tall, stern woman with sinful red locks. After all, it’s indecent to lust after such a respectable woman, or any woman for that matter. Though, all he can think about is what color her eyes must be behind those glasses… and does she wear pantyhose or garters?This is Nanny and Brother Francis falling in love despite their awful and sometimes traumatic pasts. The plot is completely different from Good Omens Canon, it's an AU and I'm very excited for it.





	1. Nanny meets the Gardener

“Warlock, darling, let’s _not _put rocks up our nose, eh?” Lilith smirked, easing the small stones from Warlock’s grubby hands. She loved the child, really, but _sometimes _the urge to slap him on the back of the head was overwhelming. Not that she’d ever hit a child, it remained a troubling thought that bubbled up when she let her annoyance get the best of her.

“Nanny, they’re my friends!” Warlock cried, sticking out his lip in such a way that she almost _wanted_ to let him stick the rocks up his nose. Those big blue eyes really did a number on her, but instead she set her jaw and put her foot down.

“I’m sure, dear, but friends don’t want be stuffed up your nostrils. I promise.”

Warlock frowned anyway, and Lilith was afraid he might melt down into a full-blown tantrum, but once his eyes caught hers peeking over her sunglasses, he groaned quietly and said nothing more.

Lilith Ashtoreth had been with the Dowling’s for a little over five years. Harriet Dowling brought her on at the beginning of her pregnancy to see how they got along, and the two had become good friends in the process. Almost six years later, they still have tea together whenever possible.

While she and Thaddeus had little in common, she was the only member of the staff who could beat him in a drinking contest, and he respected her for that. When she drank, her Scottish accent became a bit rogue-ish, and she thought she sounded remarkably like her father. The pair of them could get competitive, and often if they were playing pool or rugby, Harriet would step in before things got too heated. Still, they enjoyed one another’s company well enough.

“Miss Ashtoreth!”

She smiled at the boy again, placing a protective hand on Warlock before standing and turning toward Thad Dowling, who strolled up to them, bodyguards following him closely on the lawn. She didn’t like the guards everywhere. It made her feel safe, yes, but the guns they carried made something inside her turn to steel.

Warlock stayed buried in her skirts as she stood up, his hands clenching the fabric nervously. He didn’t like the guns much either. Lilith placed a reassuring hand on the back of his head and felt him relax.

“I have something I’d like to talk to you about,” he smiled as he approached. He kneeled and gestured for Warlock. The boy looked up at her for permission. If Thad noticed, he didn’t show it.

“Go on, dear.” She pushed at the back of his head. Warlock walked glumly over, collapsing limply in his father’s embrace.

Around Warlock’s third birthday, Thaddeus had been deployed for a mission in Afghanistan. She didn’t know the specifics, but they hadn’t seen Thad again until a year later. By then, Warlock had forgotten all familiarity with his father. She’d been trying desperately for Warlock to open up to his father, but the boy simply didn’t feel comfortable around him. Lilith could see the pain and regret in Thad’s face each time something like this happened, but she’d warned him it would take time to rebuild that trust. Warlock was a sensitive boy, after all.

“What would you like to discuss?”

He released Warlock with a sad smile, watching longingly as the boy ran back to his nanny’s skirts. She felt bad for him and made a mental note to talk to Warlock about his father later.

“We have a new groundskeeper coming today. He’s a great guy, I think you’ll like him well enough. He was a priest, actually.” Thad made an apologetic face as she cocked one eyebrow at the word “priest.” “He’s got a son, Adam. He’s Warlock’s age. I was wondering if you’d be willing to take on another charge. Of course, I’ll respect your decision to focus solely on Warlock’s welfare…”

She took her glasses off the bridge of her nose, crossing her arms as she fixed him with a pointed stare.

“Of course, we’d double your pay for taking on two children.”

God, this man was supposed to negotiate on behalf of nations.

“It’s just, Ezra’s a friend of a friend, and he’s been referred by many wonderful people. His work is delightful, and from what I hear Adam is a good kid.” After another moment of her staring, “Y’know what? We’ll even give you Saturday evenings off, how’s that sound?”

“It sounds like I can manage, Mr. Dowling,” she smiled smugly at him, placing her glasses carefully back onto her nose.

“Good. Thank you, Lilith. Would you like to meet your new charge?”

When they arrived in the kitchens, the staff had already been summoned. They stood at attention, and Lilith took her place between Anathema, the head chef, and Michael, the family majordomo. She felt Michael’s disapproving stare, her cold blue eyes noting the dirt on her skirts from Warlock’s hands.

“Can I help you?” Lilith whispered, eyes flashing to the nosy woman next to her.

“Been rolling in the mud, have we? I thought this was a professional household.” Michael kept her eyes forward, lips hardly moving. Her long hair was pinned back harshly, not unlike Lilith’s, but she liked to think her face looked less pinched and angry than Michael’s did.

“Yes, but my profession is watching children, not snooping on my coworkers. I thought _your_ job was to _be_ a professional.”

Michael huffed, but said nothing. Lilith tried not to look too smug. She did tire of their repartee, though. It was exhausting to be such a bitch to Michael, but it seemed to be the only way she respected Lilith in any aspect. If she could come up with a witty response, Michael usually let her be.

Thaddeus saved her by opening the door, ushering in his new guests. Lilith kept a hand on Warlock as they stepped through.

“Everyone, this is Ezra Fell, and his son Adam.”

Ezra Fell was a handsome man, she pleasantly noticed, taking in the halo of white-blond curls, shadowed in comparison only by bright blue eyes. He was tall, though he did not reach Lilith’s impressive six foot two in her heels, his broad shoulders strained in the confines of his camel coat, soft stomach the perfect resting place for Adam as carried him into the kitchen. The small boy in his arms shared his curls, his blond a bit warmer. They had the same eyes, though, and the same smile.

“Pick up your jaw from the floor, please, it’s unsightly of a woman your age,” Michael sneered quietly next to her. She tore her eyes from Mr. Fell to fix Michael with a nasty glare. She was about to snap back when Thaddeus began to introduce them all one by one.

“And this is Lilith Ashtoreth. She’s Warlock’s nanny and has agreed to help take care of Adam while you work.”

She stepped forward to shake Mr. Fell’s hand as Thaddeus continued, fixing Adam with a smile. “She was a schoolteacher in another life, so she’ll be taking care of primary schooling for the boy.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, Adam.” Lilith held out her hand gently toward the boy. He turned his face into Mr. Fell’s collar, the pink creeping up his neck. She turned to Mr. Fell instead, letting the boy be. “You as well, Mr. Fell.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Ashtoreth. Please, call me Ezra.” She tried not to look too long at him, painfully aware of Michael’s disapproving glare boring into her shoulder blades. His eyes were truly stunning. Pools of bright and happy cerulean smiled back at her, and she felt a blush bloom over her own face. His hands were warm, and she could feel the strength of them when his hand enclosed hers.

“_Miss_ Ashtoreth, actually. She’s _divorced_,” Michael’s biting sneer cut through her thoughts as she budged Lilith aside to shake hands with the groundskeeper. “Michael, the majordomo. Let me know if you’ll be needing anything.”

Mr. Fell smiled politely back at her before turning his attention back to Lilith, “Adam is _quite _excited to meet a new friend. Aren’t you, my dear boy?”

He coaxed Adam’s face from his neck, whispering encouraging words in his ear. His face was still bright pink, his blue eyes nervous as he looked at his new nanny. Lilith gave him another smile, hoping to coax the boy into giving her a smile in return.

“Nanny says you’re supposed to shake hands when you meet someone new,” Warlock chimed in as he tugged on her skirts, his signal that he wanted picked up.

“Oh, that’s quite alright. We won’t force anyone to do anything they don’t want to, will we?” She lifted him onto her hip as he wanted. He immediately stuck his hand out for Adam to shake. She’d taught him well, after all.

Adam stared at Warlock’s hand, his eyes seeming to calculate the cost/benefit of the problem at hand. After a moment, he stuck his hand out as well. The two pumped their hands once, then broke out in a fit of giggles.

“Adam,” Lilith gave Ezra a reassuring smile, then turned back to his son, “Warlock and I were just about to go exploring. Would you and Mr. Fell like to come?”

Adam looked back at Ezra for permission, to which he nodded. “Yes, please!”

Adam and Warlock quickly took to one another, running ahead and screaming with glee as Lilith and Ezra kept pace behind them. They walked in awkward silence, catching one another’s eye and looking away every few moments.

The sun shone above them brightly in the cool April breeze. It was unseasonably warm, light jacket weather, but the boys sweat from their giggling anyway.

“You’ve worked for the Dowling’s a long time, then?” Ezra asked, sneaking a quick glance at Lilith once more. One of her red curls had come loose and bounced around in the breeze. She didn’t seem to mind it much, simply twisting it behind her ear again when it bothered her. The snake tattoo in front of her ear called out to him, and he fought the urge to brush back that curl himself so he could get a better look, trace every scale and curve.

“Almost six years now,” she smiled, watching the boys fondly. Her gloved hand played with a chain around her neck, a wedding ring inlaid with silver and emeralds hooked between her fingers as she avoided his gaze.

“And you were a schoolteacher before? Why become a nanny?”

She gaped for a moment at his question, rolling it over as her hand stilled on the chain. “You were a priest before, why become a caretaker?”

“Well, they’re really not so different. Caretaking has less sermons.” He kept his eyes on her, trying to see behind her glasses, trying not to be so obvious about it. What color were her eyes? Brown, maybe, like chocolate? Probably more amber, a bright biting brown that would cut into you.

He took a step away from her as she turned toward him with her whole body, hands on her hips. She studied him, from what outline of her eyes he could see, eyes trailing from his face and down to his feet, then up again.

“My husband wanted me to quit so we could move to London for his job.”

“And you did it because he wanted you to?”

She turned away from him again, hands crossing over her waist. He worried for a moment that he’d upset her, but she gave him another smile as she uncrossed her arms, hand flying back to the chain.

“You left the priesthood because you were lazy, is what I’m getting from you. Not a good quality in a father, though not an uncommon one,” she smiled at him again, a soft smile that bloomed a deep blush from his chest. He felt it creep up neck and into his cheeks, willing himself not to sweat in the cool April breeze.

“Adam’s not my son. He’s actually my nephew.” She turned toward him again, and he saw her quietly curse herself over her assumption. “My brother and his wife passed when Adam was two. I left the parish a year later.”

“I’d have thought a convent would be an ideal place for a child. Satanic nuns not the best caretakers?”

He laughed, waving his hand absentmindedly, “No, it’s not that. It’s just, he was the only kid. He needed to be around real people. Besides, the boy doesn’t strike me as a candidate for the priesthood.”

“I’m sorry about your brother and sister-in-law.”

“I’m sorry about your husband.”

“Yes, how do priests look at the divorced? I mean, I feel better off without him, but I’m vaguely aware God is _not_ a fan,” she tutted, her hand tightening again around her chain.

Lilith led him to a small table in sight of the gazebo the boys had arrived at. They had collapsed in a fit of giggles in the gazebo, talking mindlessly about child things. To them, it was everything, of course. To the Nanny and the Gardener, it was the best view of the day.

“Well, divorce has nothing to do with me unless I’m the one going through one, I suppose.”

She didn’t reply to him, pointedly watching the boys and fiddling with her chain. She must be hot in her dress, the wool did not seem particularly forgiving in the sunshine, nor did her leather gloves. Why wear so many clothes when the weather was so nice?

“They’ve put us up in the cottage on the east lawn. It looks rather nice, though it’s a duplex. Whoever lives next door has their Halloween decorations up even though it’s April, which Adam loves.” He adjusted awkwardly in his seat, the metal digging into the back of his legs as he tried to make himself comfortable.

“They’re not Halloween decorations, they’re symbols of protection,” she finally looked over at him, smiling smugly as the heat rose to his ears. “I’m sure you’ll make delightful neighbors.”


	2. Nanny, Gardener, and the Big Slip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please don't judge me on my chapter titles. I'm trying to be snarky, I know it's not working.

Lilith sat in the kitchen, legs crossed tightly over one another as she read her book. She tried to mind how much she was biting her lip -it was a _ naughty _ book after all- as Anathema had an eye for that sort of thing, and wasn’t afraid to ask about it in a full kitchen.

It was just the two of them today, Anathema humming incessantly as she flitted about, occasionally reading over Lilith’s shoulder and groaning in annoyance, “Y’know, I always forget how alike you and Mami are until I see you reading crap like that.”

“Your mother and I have been best friends since primary school, what did you expect?” Lilith winks at her from behind the pages of _ Passions of Leon._

“I expected to work with my cool Tia, not my mother,” she sighs, turning her attention to the stove.

It was hot in the kitchen, the steam fogging the floor-to-wall windows as spring shook out a heavy downpour outside. Everyone was inside, hiding from the rain. Warlock and Adam were down for a nap, and Lilith was trying to enjoy the novel and the only quiet she’d had all day. The boys had been hellions, constantly asking to go outside despite the rain.

“The new caretaker is cute, don’t you think?” Anathema said absentmindedly, stirring the large pot of stew before her, sniffing it, making a face and then adding a few more shakes of cumin and turning the dial to extinguish the flames.

Lilith looked up from her, fingers pinching a page corner of her book. “Anathema, that man is much too old for you. He must be in his forties.” She looked away as Anathema turned to face her. “You should chase someone your own age.”

Anathema giggles, walking away from the stove and taking a seat on the stool next to her. She crosses her legs, placing her elbows on the table and leaning toward Lilith. She narrowed her eyes at the girl behind her glasses, pursing her lips with the hope of warding off any comment she may have.

“Oh, I don’t mean for me, I mean for you!” Anathema rests her hand on top of Lilith’s, giving her a squeeze, “I’ve never seen you date _anyone,_ and you really need to get back out there. Warlock, Adam, and I are the only people you interact with, besides your trashy romance novels.” Her eyes flashed down toward the book. Lilith thought of the attractive, shirtless man on the cover, her face blushing pink before she tore her hand away from Anathema’s.

“I don’t need to date anyone, I have you and the kids to keep me company.”

“Oh, come _ on!” _Anathema groaned, her head and hands flying back dramatically, “When was the last time you got laid?”

Lilith gaped at her, outrage glowing behind the red blush that covered her cheeks and ears. “Th-that is _none_ of your business… What would your mother say if she heard you speak like that?” She closed her mouth as she thought about it. It _ had _ been awhile, and Mr. Fell did have impressive biceps. She’d seen them once as he and some of the other contractors worked on a new landscaping design on the north lawn. He could probably lift her like she was nothing... She waved her hand in front of her face in a pathetic attempt to dispel the image from her mind.

“She’d ask why you won’t answer, _ Miss _ Ashtoreth. I thought the whole point of you divorcing Gabe was that you’d get to enjoy yourself now. It’s been almost five years since you last saw him. Why not get down and dirty with the gardener?”

The doors to the gardens burst open behind them, the sound of the rain and thunder crashing through the quiet kitchen. The two women let out small screams, clinging to one another as Thaddeus and Ezra lumbered through the French doors. Thaddeus kicked the door shut behind them, Ezra shaking his curls out as he caught sight of them.

“Sorry, ladies,” his face reddened as he looked around at the puddle they’d made. Mud and water had poured in behind them, and Lilith narrowed her eyes as it pooled until it reached just before her chair. 

“It sure is pouring out there! God, I do miss southern storms in the States. At least the rain is warm there.” Thaddeus walked past them to the stove, ignoring the mess he made. Lilith watched his trail of muddy footprints with pure disapproval. She looked away from Ezra, pinching the bridge of her nose. The rain was giving her such a headache, and having Ezra in the kitchen didn’t help. Anytime she was around him she made a fool of herself. 

Last week she’d smiled at him in passing in the garden, distracted for only a moment, and had run right into a branch. A few days before that she’d overheard Adam telling Ezra that, ‘Nanny only seems to smile at you, Daddy.’ She’d been red-faced and sputtering all day after that.

Anathema untangled herself from Lilith to jump over to Mr. Dowling, slapping his hand away from the spoon as he held it to his mouth. “Uh-uh, if you ask I will get you a bowl to taste it.”

Thad growled softly at her, handing her the spoon back. “Just don’t put too many jalapenos in it this time, the heat screws with my stomach.” He walked out of the kitchen without another word, nodding at Ezra on his way out, leaving puddles of rainwater and mud behind him.

Anathema frowned at him as he left, “It’s moqueca baiana, it doesn’t have any jalapenos. It’s just fish stew.”

“He’s an old man, dear, anything stronger than salt is spicy to him,” Lilith laughs, rising from her spot at the table. She walked over to a nearby cabinet and pulled out a few towels, walking back and handing them to Ezra. “Here, I’ll help you clean this up.” 

She leaned down to start wiping up the water when she slipped, hand reflexively snapping out and grabbing the closest thing she could. The closest thing happened to be Ezra’s left suspender, which snapped off his pants, pinching her hand as she pulled him to the ground with her. He landed heavily on top of her, and Lilith cried out in pain as her tightly pinned bun bounced off the muddy floor. 

Lilith heard Anathema’s hand slap over her mouth as she laughed. Ezra groaned in mixed pain and shock as he rose to his hands and knees above her. She felt a deep blush bloom across her features, her jaw trembling as she fought back tears of embarrassment. Jesus, fuck, why did things like this only happen around him?(1) 

“Oh, dear, Lilith. I am so very sorry,” Ezra blabbered as he rose. She was painfully aware of his knees pressing against either side of her hips, the warmth of his hands tickled the shells of her ears. She stared up at him helplessly, her mind flashing once again to the shirtless man on the cover of her novel, and felt her face heat even more.

“Goodness, you’re all wet now,” he stuttered, raising his hand and examining the mud covering it. Her eyes widened in shock, her uninjured hand slapping over her mouth to stifle the gasp that escaped her.

Anathema let out another howl of laughter, slapping the counter as she sunk to her knees by the stove. Ezra looked up at her in confusion, his face flushed dark red as he realized what Anathema was laughing at. He quickly got off of LIlith. He reached out and grabbed her arm to help her up, and she cried out as pain flashed hot through her hand. 

“I am so sorry, th-that’s not what I meant,” He led her over to the table, pulling out one of the stools for her. Lilith winced as she heard the _ squelch _ of her clothes as she sat down. He motioned to the gloved hand she was nursing, “May I?”

If she opened her mouth, she was sure nothing would come out, so she just nodded in response, avoiding his gaze entirely. He lightly tugged the glove off, muttering apologies as she winced again. Her pointer finger was already blossoming with a bruise from where the suspender buckle had pinched it. 

He held her hand in his delicately, featherlight touches grazing her skin as he examined the damage. His fingers brushed the tattoo of a snake, it’s head peeking out from her sleeve and resting along the base of her thumb, its black and red scales complementing the blue and purple bruise a few inches away.

“I don’t think it’s broken, though you’ll have a pretty nasty bruise,” he said, not mentioning the tattoo and giving her another apologetic look, “Are you alright? I apologize, I should’ve just cleaned it up myself.” 

“It’s fine, angel. I just slipped on a puddle. I’m sorry I pulled you down with me.” She looked over at him, blushing again when his eyes met hers. The pet name had just escaped without her permission. Had she called anyone _ angel _ before? Surely not. His hands we warm against hers, and she tried to relax in his touch as he rubbed a silent apology into her skin.

Anathema finally rose from her place behind the counter, her face pink from laughter. “Oooh, that was unbelievable. I’m gonna go before you drag me down with you.” She gave them another look as she left the room, and Lilith could hear her laughing as she went down the hall. 

“It seems we keep making fools of ourselves around one another,” Ezra chuckled, not meeting her eyes. His gaze settled on the book Lilith had been reading, one of his hands reaching out and grabbing it without thinking. “Passions of Leon?” He cocked an eyebrow as he looked back at her. Surely her face couldn’t get _ any _ hotter? 

“It’s just something I picked up when I was in line at the store. There isn’t much in the way of fiction in the Dowling library.” 

“Mmm, there isn’t much in mine either,” he said, reading the back of the book anyway, his eyebrows rising and falling as he read the romantic -_ sexual _\- synopsis. “Do you like it so far?”

She shook her head, “There isn’t much plot with this porn.”

He laughed, his face turning pink once more, “Ah, I see.” He handed the book back to her, his other hand still holding hers. “You have a thing for snakes?” His fingers swiped over the tattoo again, tracing the outline of the head. Lilith tried to keep still her hands as they began to shake as memories flooded her for a moment. She shook her head quickly, at a loss for words, trying to say anything in response.

When she wouldn’t meet his eyes, he released her hand, and it cooled from the loss immediately. He sensed her hesitation, his blue eyes immediately clouded with worry and guilt, “I’m sorry, that was impolite of me.”

“No,” she reached out and grabbed his hand back, squeezing it tightly, giving him a reassuring smile, “it’s not that. All of my tattoos are results of… youthful indiscretions, is all.”

“I understand,” he squeezed her hand back, “I have a few of those myself.”

They stayed like that for a while, his warm hands radiating through her cold ones, enjoying the quiet of the kitchen. The beat of the rain falling outside complimented their small talk, a booming sound barrier between them and the rest of the household, -the rest of the world- the mud behind them forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some awkwardness for you. And don't worry, there's more to come! <3
> 
> (1) It’s because I’m the author ;)


	3. Nanny, Gardner, and the Very Hot, Very Handsy, Summer Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilith and Ezra start hanging out after work.

After that day in the kitchens, Lilith and Ezra found every opportunity to be close to one another, whether it was a passing glance from across the garden; or Ezra taking the stool next to Lilith during staff dinners, their knees brushing underneath the table. Each touch was soft, every graze of the hand calculated and important. Hushed conversations in dark corners were commonplace for the Nanny and the Gardener, quickly dispersing as soon anyone else entered the room. 

Each time Ezra passed behind her, his hand lightly brushed the small of her back, and he delighted in the way she always shivered in her layers of wool and skirts. When they spoke, Lilith made a point of calling him ‘angel’, and he blushed each and every time, the heat creeping up his chest, trailing up his cheeks and branching out over his ears as he fought back the urge to just kiss her there and then.

He hadn’t kissed her, though he wanted to do so desperately. The soft curve of her lips haunted him throughout his day, the way she threw back her head to laugh had a soft and happy home in his heart, rivaled only by the sound of her giggling at one of his many terrible jokes.

To this day he had yet to catch even a glimpse of her eyes. Always obscured by dark lenses, they eluded him each day as they spoke. As they were neighbors, they had been meeting on their shared porch for the last three months almost nightly, sharing wine and laughing into the night, and he still had not seen them. She wore them well into the night, never fidgeting with them, never taking them off to rub her eyes. They might as well have been glued to her head for all Ezra knew. 

As the weather grew warmer and the night stayed warm, she would take off her long coats and change into leggings and long-sleeved jumpers, while he would opt for jeans and a light henley. Sitting on the shared porch of their cottage, he would watch with amusement as she slowly sprawled out in her wicker armchair the more she drank. 

Lilith would begin sitting upright, knees timidly pressed against her chest when he first arrived. By her second glass of wine, one of her legs hung over the armrest, the other tucked underneath her as she faced him, giggling animatedly as she recalled whatever the boys had done that day. Her hair hung in tightly coiled ringlets over her shoulders, pooling around her stomach and bouncing up and down as she told him all about the boys’ progress in sciences and maths, which he soon figured to be her favorite subjects. 

After the fourth glass, both legs hung over the armrest, colorful socked feet swinging slowly, her head on the other as she listened to him talk about his life in the parish, about the new books he’d acquired, a smile resting blissfully on her wine-reddened cheeks. The spatter of freckles glittered across her nose in the lamplight, her laughter echoing merrily across the screened-in porch in the heat of July.

Around her sixth glass, she would quiet, watching him as he watched her, crickets singing to them as the evening turned to midnight. She eventually would stand, using the table for balance, and open her mouth to say something. Nothing would come out, of course, she hadn’t been ready for it, and neither had he. She would close her mouth for a moment, take a stabilizing breath, then excuse herself for the night, thanking him for his company.

Tonight, as the humidity blazed, soaking their skin and coating their throats in strangling breaths, she moved to sit on  _ his _ armrest. He watched her, his eyes trained on hers (or, better put, her sunglasses), not daring to breathe. Her fiery locks tickled his arm as she lowered herself down, her reddened cheeks blazing in the moonlight.

“Angel?” she whispered, the sound barely reaching him even in their closeness. He wanted to reach out to her, to snake his arm around her waist and pull her onto his lap. He wanted to breathe her in and kiss her senseless, to kiss the nervousness out of her voice. He wouldn’t, though, he would let her make that first move, let her find the space she was most comfortable in. 

“Yes, my dear?” She smiled at him at his name for her, and that tugging in his heart turned into a magnetizing pull, the desire to hold her almost overwhelming him entirely. It clawed its way up from his belly and ripped through his chest, bursting in bright patches of red underneath his cheeks and ears. 

The heat was unbearable. He didn’t understand how she wore long jumpers in weather like this. His eyes flashed to the only bit of skin -aside from her face- she was willing to show, the head of her snake tattoo on her right hand calling out to him, disappearing underneath her sleeve. How far up her arm did it travel? 

Lilith followed his eyes to her hand, then lifted it up to brush it through his white curls, her thumb brushing the sensitive spot behind his ear. He leaned into her hand, closing his eyes as he basked in her attention. She rubbed light circles with her thumb, his own hand reaching up to rest on her thigh. She covered it with her other hand, interlacing her fingers with Ezra’s. He felt her lean in, daring not to open his eyes lest he scare her away. Her lips brushed his softly, just grazing before she leaned back to study his reaction. 

He opened his eyes as her hand moved to cup his jaw. She watched him, face anxious as his eyes met hers through her glasses. He shifted in his seat to sit up straighter, brushing a stray curl behind her ear, pulling her back to him once more. 

Still soft, still experimental, their lips met again. Lightly sweeping against one another at first, hands caressing gently along each other's necks and hips as they leaned into one another. She pulled him closer, moving to his lap and she kissed him harder, her hands snaking up into his hair tightly as she began to let herself go. 

He held her close, breathing in the scent of cinnamon and cardamom, the taste of wine spilling over him as their tongues met, that spark igniting somewhere deep inside him, hungry and desperate for more of her. 

He peppered kisses across her jaw, sucking light red marks down her neck as she writhed in his lap. Her hands tightened again in his hair as he lavished attention across the sensitive skin along her collar bone, thighs squeezing his waist as she gasped in his ear.

Lilith’s back pushed against the table as she straddled him, her hips rocking into Ezra, groaning as his growing erection shifted underneath her sensitive heat. She moved to reclaim his lips, moaning softly into his mouth as warmth flashes bright and eager in his groin, his fingers tightening around her hips as he pulled her closer to his chest. 

She pulled back suddenly, breathing heavily as she pressed her forehead against his. His eyes still closed, he breathed with her, the sound surrounding them, hands tightening and releasing as they wound themselves down. 

She looks at him, face suddenly fearful, and he can feel her tense up. “I should go.” She pulls herself off him, staggering a bit as she stands. He rises quickly, one hand on her shoulder, the other on her hip to help steady her.

“Lilith, please, let’s talk,” he begins, but she pulls away from him. Her teeth sink into her bottom lip, already swollen and pink from their kissing. She backs away from him, hands flying to the handle of her door.

“Thank you for the wine, Mr. Fell,” she gasps, opening the door, slipping inside, slamming it loudly behind her. Ezra hears the lock slide home, and the sound of the crickets overwhelms him. The humidity clouds over him again, pulling him into the night as he stands on the porch, using the table for support, wondering what the  _ hell _ just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! I had a bit of wine myself when I wrote this, so my cheeks are red and I'm a bit flustered. Hope you are too! <3 Kudos and comment if you enjoyed please <3
> 
> Twitter, Tumblr, Insta @dustylangdon


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